December 10, 2014

Curly Deco Mesh Mailbox Topper


Want a fun and easy way to add holiday color to your mailbox?
This topper made from deco mesh is sassy and eye-catching. 

All of the items that I used for making this mailbox topper came 
from Hobby Lobby but you can find similar items at other craft
stores.  The deco mesh and the ribbon are easy to find on sale
 at  50% off once or twice a month at HL.  You can use a HL
 40% off coupon to buy the wire metal mailbox frame and
 green zip ties in the floral supply section of the store. 
I found out that these wire frames are also are used to put flowers on
caskets and in graveyards to put flowers on grave headstones .

Regular price the items are $3.50 for the frame, $8 for each 
roll of 10" deco mesh, $10 for ribbon, $4 for zip ties.
Full price DIY...$33.50
Sale and coupons for supplies DIY...$16.25

The frame is pretty ingenious...it bends to fit the shape of your
regulation mailbox.  It is easier to bend when it is off of the box.
Here is the frame in the process of bending. 

To avoid scraping your mailbox, just bend it when it is off of the 
mailbox and then do small adjustments as needed to keep it snug
to the mailbox.  The rubber on the "arms" of the frame keep it from
slipping around and also help it from marring the metal mailbox. 

The wire bends easily but keeps its shape. 

If you live in a windy area you may need to tie the topper down.
Run wire, string, fishing line, etc. from the "loops" on one side of the frame,
under the mailbox and tie on to the "loops" on the other side of the frame. 

Once you get the basic shape that you need to have the wire frame
fit on your mailbox, you can work on adding the mesh inside your
house if you are a baby about being out in the weather like me. 

The mesh is 30' long.  Cut the mesh into 10" pieces. 

Roll each 10" piece of mesh into a spiral. Pinch it in the middle.

You can roll all of your pieces at one time and use something like
a clothespin to keep it tight or you can roll the mesh as needed
and keep the rolled mesh in your spare hand till you get three
rolls to zip tie onto the frame. 

If you have not used zip ties (or cable ties as they are also called)
before, you may need a moment of practice.  
Zip ties can be purchased not only at Hobby Lobby in the floral section but at 
home improvement stores and even Dollar Tree in the hardware section. 

I could not handle adding more than three "rolls/spirals" at a
time with the zip tie. The trick is to keep the rolls rolled as you
 add them. You can alternate colors (I only used two
but you could use three or more) in each bunch if you want to.
This first bunch shows four spiral/rolls but I went with three at a time after this one

 Pull the zip tie as tight as it will go to keep the mesh spiral
roll bunch from slipping around and to keep the rolls rolled up. 


Here is a view of the bottom of the frame after three bunches
were added to the frame...

...and from the "good" side...

Keep adding bunches of rolls to the frame with the zip ties.
good side

bad side

If you plan on adding other embellishments like bows, ribbon
doo-dahs, ornaments, etc., you can tolerate some "holes" in the 
coverage of the mesh roll bunches on the frame 'cause you will 
fill in the "holes" with other items.  Use zip ties, floral wire or
pipe cleaners to attach other items to the frame. 

Honestly, I went too tight on my coverage of the bunches when I
first was adding the mesh to the frame. I could have gotten by with
only the two rolls of 10" mesh but I needed to open up some extra
rolls I had purchased "just in case" to add fullness at the end. 

Here is what the frame looked like with two rolls of mesh...

If you want it really full, get more than the two rolls of mesh.
The more spiral bunches you add to the frame, the fluffier the
mailbox topper will be. Put spiral bunches on the horizontal
wires, the vertical wires and the "legs" of the frame.

 Cut the ends of the plastic zip ties so they are not sticking out
willy-nilly on your topper. 

Here is what that mailbox topper looks like with just the mesh...

It is cute but it can be even cuter with some ribbon added. 
Here are some candidates to add to the topper

I don't know what to call these ribbon bunches...doo dahs?
Anyway, the ends of wired ribbon that is cut into "fishtails" is
an easy way to add embellishment, color and pattern to the topper.

Pinch a couple of  pieces of 8" wired ribbon in the middle.
Wire the pinched center with floral wire leaving several inches
of wire on each end.  Cut the ends of the ribbon either on the 
diagonal or into "fishtail" or "notched" shapes. 

You could add a whole bow onto the topper but it tends to get
"lost" in the depth of the spiraled deco mesh rolls. 

Wire the ends of the ribbon "doo-dah" onto the frame where ever
you need some sassiness or to fill in a "hole". 

Slip your embellished mailbox frame onto your mailbox. 
You might need to keep the topper to the back of the mailbox
in order to use the flag when you want mail picked up. 


I only had a little of the striped ribbon left over from the wreaths
that I made last year for the front windows to tie in the topper.

I thought that the polka dot ribbon in basically the same colors
was a pretty good second choice for the main ribbon on the topper.


Last year I tried to make a deco mesh mailbox topper using 
more of the technique that is/was used on the wreaths.

It wasn't horrible but it kinda of looked like a mish-mash of
mesh and ribbon. I never did a post on it even though I did 
take pictures of the process like a good blogger. 

I am much happier with the deco mesh mailbox topper made in the 
style of a curly/spiral deco mesh wreath but with the 10" mesh. 


This same technique could be used for other holidays or
occasions using different colors of deco mesh and ribbon
to make a fun and welcoming decor item for guests or for
folks just driving by your home.  

25 comments

  1. I love your topper -- so festive! We have a community mailbox -- ugh, otherwise, I would love to make this. :)

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  2. These are great ideas to decorate just about anything with toppers - not just mailboxes. We have community mailboxes, too, but I have a very large outdoor lantern that I want to decorate and you've given me a way to use the mesh ribbon to make this happen. Rolling the ribbon and making fishtails look so adorable - that I will be trying these out!

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  3. Now that's a great tutorial with beautiful results! Thanks so much for sharing.

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  4. I absolutely LOVE this idea. I don't think it would hold up in the winds we get off the bay but I could do it on a decorative mailbox that we have close to the house. It looks GREAT on your mailbox! Would you believe I have NEVER worked with decorative mesh? I just bought my first roll. Wish me luck! xo Diana

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  5. Gayle, This is sooo cute! I bet you have the prettiest mailbox in the neighborhood.
    xx,
    Sherry

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  6. You always wow us with your creativity!

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  7. Oh my gosh... I LOVE your festive candy land themed exterior. Thanks for the tutorial. I might switch some things up next year :-) Amanda

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  8. Love your mailbox swag but I can't find the wire frame. I tried Joanna and Michaels and hobby lobby online to no avail!

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    Replies
    1. Search for 12" Green Enamel Casket Plaque with Rubber Grips on the Hobby Lobby website ��

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  9. Where do you find the frame from? I have had no luck where I live.

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  10. I've found the frames at Hobby Lobby and Michael's in the floral section. They're also used to make saddle arrangements for headstones.

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  11. I've found the frames at Hobby Lobby and Michael's in the floral section. They're also used to make saddle arrangements for headstones.

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  12. Hey, very nice work, I wanna know something, in my country we don´t have the decorative mesh, so, do you know with what I can replace it? thanks

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  13. Hi I'm a florist and those frames are what we use to make saddle arrangements for headstones. Fer G don't know what you have in your country but you can also use wide ribbon with some tulle it will look a little different but should hold up nice

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  14. I love your mailbox wreaths and I will make one for this year. But I have a small or large problem. My area is very windy and I mean sometimes strong winds, so if others have this problem they may can use my solution. I take short bungee cords and hook from one side and go under the mailbox and hook to the other side. For Christmas I use red or green on your mailbox you can use black cords. This is good for large mailboxes.

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  15. Thank you for sharing how you made the spiral deco mesh mailbox cover. It is so pretty. It looks like you attached 3 plastic ties to each horizontal wire at the top of the frame. Is that correct?

    Looking forward to anyone who can share their comments.


    Thank you.

    Kathy in Henrico, VA

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    Replies
    1. You know I DID start out with three deco mesh spiral bunches across at first (which is what the picture shows). I realized that I was going to run out of mesh if I kept doing the whole wire frame that tight if I wanted to keep to only using two rolls of mesh. I started spacing the bunches out more and used less than three on some horizontal rows of wire. As you get more and more bunches on the frame, the spirals kind of hold each other up. So on each end of the frame (back of mailbox/front of mailbox) it would be a good idea to have the three bunches on those rows since there will not be other bunches holding those up on one side. You also need to add mesh bunches on the legs of the frame to hide those. Good question! I will go back and try to make that more clear in the post.

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  16. Love the mailbox but can you tell me where I can find the mailbox huggie frame? I can not find that one.

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  17. This is my first time using deco mesh in a project. I am using two headstone/casket saddles on a double mailbox. Your instructions were so easy to follow along with the tips my project. I found everything at Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree. Cost $18 with the 50% off HB Christmas sale and 40% off coupon which I used on one of the saddles ($3.47 / $ 2.08).

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  18. So adorable!! I love it!!
    One question though! How does this hold up in rain / snow? I see lots of replies about wind but we live in KY and have rain or snow a lot!!

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  19. What happens to the wreath when it rains?

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